


Wait for Eternity

by FlyingConverse87



Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz, Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Disposable OCs - Freeform, Don't have anything else to say, Gen, I need someone to kill, Minor Character Death, i can and will change the warnings if need be, if I'm wrong please tell me, in my opinion, not really any explicitly gory stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-07-26 03:04:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7557655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyingConverse87/pseuds/FlyingConverse87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Artemis is in Japan because his family is pushy and wants him to look into Shinichi's disappearance, Alex just wants a peaceful vacation, for once in his life, Conan swears his own stupidity has never put his secret this much at risk. Good thing Artemis helped develop APTX-4869, right? And that Alex's newest assignment is to take down the Black Syndicate? Something has to go right here. Dang someone's dead again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> So guys, 'sup. If anyone reads this I will be very happy. Detective Conan is my guilty pleasure. Whelp, I don't a lot to say for the beginning, other than I do not own anything you recognize, and there will be OCs just so I have people to kill off. This is on fanfiction.net as well, just so I'm not accused of stealing my own work. That's about it for now. Good luck, stay safe, and have a nice day ;)

Artemis Fowl was in a bad mood. While anyone who knew the boy would tell you that this was not an uncommon event, and a certain elf would get very vocal on the topic, Artemis felt this at least was not the same. This particular reason for his, pardon the pun, foul mood was the forced vacation he'd been sent on. While his parents had pushed him to partake in many a trip before, they had never literally pushed him onto a plane alone before this occurrence. Not even Butler had been allowed along. Apparently the giant of a man wasn't inconspicuous enough. Whatever that implied.

As he stalked in the general direction of his destination Artemis muttered curses under his breath in a wide variety of languages, most prominent of all being the native language to the country he was currently occupying, which was Japan. Tugging his suitcase along behind him he searched for a taxi of some sort, sadly he hadn't been to Japan in quite a while and therefore didn't have anywhere near the extensive web of connections he possessed other places, meaning he'd have to rely on copious amounts of money to reliably achieve anything. That and his social skills which anyone could observe were not plentiful, which was another topic his self-proclaimed best friend could rant for quite some time on.

Finally he tracked down a cab and was on his way. After curtly informing the unlucky driver of his intended destination he angrily pulled the letter that had started this all from his breast pocket. It was from his aunt and it requested his immediate presence to assist his cousin in some unsavory business he'd gotten himself stuck in. Artemis's own mother had insisted he heed his aunt's plea and had soon after forced him bodily onto a plane to Japan. Included in the letter's envelope had been a slip of paper with a code on it and a note that gave him permission to use his cousin's residence during his stay. A key was also included with the set. Sighing as his cab slowed to a stop in front of the, in Artemis's biased opinion, rather small dwelling, he pulled out the required amount due and left the vehicle without another word.

After punching in the code for the gate and turning the key in the lock Artemis assessed the building he was to reside in. Dust twisted on every surface and there was mail piling up in the box. Artemis frowned. There was something off about this whole experience. Why did the house look as if no one had stayed in it for quite some time? Where had his cousin run off to? Still in thought Artemis tugged his luggage off to where he knew the guest room to be from many a childhood stay in this very house. It was after placing his bag down next to the bed that he heard the creak of the front door opening. Frown deepening he went to chew out his maddeningly irresponsible cousin. Instead he was met with two girls, one who seemed to be quite riled up. All three occupants froze, staring wide eyed at what they thought to be an intruder.

"Who are you?" The previously worked up girl asked, something akin to cold fury now settling in her eyes.

"I don't think you're in a position to ask that, seeing as you've just waltzed into a private residence." Artemis scowled, not minding his clipped tones.

"I'm the one waltzing in?!" The girl exclaimed in disbelief, her friend seemingly assessing him from behind the vocal girl.

"Ran," the cowering girl interceded "I think you should hit him with your karate. Show him you can't mess with us!"

"I think I might just do so." The first girl smirked, settling fluidly into a martial arts stance.

"Wait, Ran? As in Ran Mouri?" Artemis said quickly right as the girl flashed into motion.

"Huh?" She asked intelligently, foot frozen centimeters from Artemis's head. "How do you know my name?"

Artemis flinched and retreated from the limb as it was retracted, smoothing out the newly created wrinkles in his suit. Sighing he started talking. "It has been a while since I've visited, and since I myself didn't recognize you it seems it's been far longer than I'd realized. While the last time I was in Japan was only four, no, seven years ago, I wasn't here for family." At her confused look he sighed and simply stated; "Artemis Fowl."

Her eyes lit up in recognition and a smile spread across her face. "Arty! Wow, it's been forever since I last saw you! What are you doing back here?"

"I've been asked to help that troublesome cousin of mine with whatever situation he's managed to entangle himself in." Artemis sighed, disregarding the use of his nickname.

"So you know him Ran?" The brunette still ducked behind Ran pressed.

"Yeah! This is Shinichi's cousin; Arty's mother brought him here on vacation every other year and Shinichi would go to Ireland on the alternating year. I know Artemis from his trips here. They stopped a while ago though." Ran explained.

"Yes, when I was eleven. My father went missing that year and my mother suffered a mental breakdown." Artemis added. Ignoring the pitying looks from the two girls he pressed on. "Speaking of Shinichi, do you know where he is? The house doesn't seem much lived in and this is supposed to be where he's staying."

"Shinichi is on a case. Or two. Or three." The brunette rolled her eyes. "Personally I think the detective freak has lost his touch."

"Case?" Artemis asked, brows furrowing in confusion.

"Yes, he's a detective now." Ran explained with more than a hint of admiration. "I'm worried he might be in trouble though."

"I guess that's why I'm here. Fantastic." Artemis frowned.

Seemingly out of the blue Ran spoke up. "Hey, do you want to come over for dinner?"

"Hm?" Artemis raised an eyebrow.

"Dinner! I can't see you making anything for yourself, and this way you won't have to hunt down a cab. It'll give us time to catch up and figure out what to do about Shinichi, since we don't know where he is and all." She nodded, seeming to have already made up her mind.

"I suppose I could." He hesitated.

"It'll be fun." She assured. "Maybe Dad can help! He's actually a flourishing detective!"

That certainly didn't fit with Artemis's mental image of Kogoro Mouri who he remembered as a blundering fool who wouldn't be able to find his socks without the help of Ran or Ran's mother. Intrigued, he conceded, allowing the enthusiastic teen to drag him off.

After a couple blocks of forced exercise he was finally left alone with his childhood acquaintance as the aforementioned girl bid farewell to her friend, who was apparently named Sonoko. Artemis mulled over the information he had been previously presented with and also how much his legs and sides hurt along with the tightening in his chest. Apparently Butler was right in trying to coax him into a regular exercise regimen. Artemis even had to shoot his best glare at the, obviously foreign, blonde boy who was staring at him quite openly so he could protect what little of his dignity remained at one point. Even so Artemis was forced to concede defeat. By the time Artemis had finally quelled his pride and was about to interrupt the inane blathering of his companion to insist on them caking a cab, he was even willing to pay for the obviously inhuman girl who hadn't even broken a sweat while Artemis himself was wondering if one could drown in their own perspiration, they had arrived at a small, two-story building. As Artemis faced the final obstacle in their journey, a short flight of stairs, he hypothesized that Ran lived in a small apartment above whatever store was on the first floor.

Finally, after many trials and times where Artemis thought he was sure to expire, they were at their destination. Ran called out to let the apartment's occupants to let them know she was home and invited her exhausted companion to settle on the dingy couch hunkered down like a particularly surly rhinoceros in front of a TV. Artemis obliged with far less contempt than usual.

Not long after he'd settled in did he hear the stomping of enthusiastic feet and within seconds a particularly short boy had entered the room. One would think looking at him for the first time that he was Ran's brother, but as Artemis studied the child he quickly realized that this was obviously not the case. In fact the kid's features; the shape of his nose, the color of his eyes, the angles on his face, had almost a Fowl connection to them. If he wasn't sure he didn't have any cousins this age Artemis would say the boy was closely related to Shinichi.

"Oh hello Conan." Ran smiled at the boy. "How was school?"

"It was fine Ran. Ai was out sick though." The small boy pouted. Artemis frowned; something was off, something about how the child spoke screamed wrong to the young genius. "Oh, who's that Ran?"

"That, Conan, would be my old friend-"

"Artemis Fowl." Artemis interrupted, scowl firmly in place as he rose from his spot on the couch. "And who would you be?"

Artemis felt almost a sick sort of pleasure at the way the boy's eyes widened and his body stiffened. He did notice with muted curiosity at how, instead of subconsciously moving behind what would be viewed as a safe adult from the average seven year old, the puzzling child instead firmly planted himself between Artemis and Ran.

"My name is Conan Edogawa." The child stated defiantly. Artemis raised an eyebrow.

"Is that so? And just what are you doing here 'Conan Edogawa'?" Artemis inquired.

"He's staying here while his parents are in America." Ran stepped in, shooting glares at the two boys.

"America you say? Do you speak English then?" Artemis questioned, switching to the aforementioned language at the second sentence.

"I do." The boy glared, also switching to English. "You're Irish."

"Yes I am." Artemis smirked, returning to Japanese. "Get that just from the accent?"

"Maybe." Conan shrugged, following Artemis's lead language wise.

"Conan is quite the detective!" Ran beamed proudly. "Always solving 'cases' for his little friends."

The look Conan shot her could have curdled milk.

"A detective, just like Shinichi hm?" Artemis suggested.

"Yeah! Shinichi even helps me sometimes!" Artemis could have sworn Conan's tone dripped with fake enthusiasm as he grit out the words.

"Speaking of Shinichi, do you happen to know where he is?" Artemis prodded.

"What's it to you?" Conan glared.

"He's my cousin you see, and after being forced onto a plane at the request of my, quite possibly insane, aunt, I've come to check in on him." Artemis explained, injecting as much of his annoyance into the simple words as he could.

Behind huge glasses Conan blinked once, twice, three times before his brow furrowed and the glare he was sending Artemis became scrutinizing. "Artemis Fowl huh." Artemis could have sworn he heard the child murmur in disbelief. Something about all of this continued to fail to add up in Artemis's highly analytical and highly agitated brain.

The phone ringing merrily snapped Artemis from his pondering and seemed to have gotten the attention of the other two occupants of the room.

Ran tossed her long hair over her shoulder and went to answer the persistent device.

"Mouri Detective Agency. How may I help you?" She answered cheerfully, daring the boys to say anything with an honestly frightening glare. "Mmhmm, mhm, got it. I'm sure I can work something out. Just give us an hour and we'll be right over!"

"Who was that?" Conan asked inquisitively.

"A client." Ran said happily. "Do you know where Dad is, Conan?"

"Out drinking and playing Mahjong with some of his buddies. He said not to bother him." Conan deadpanned.

"Of course he did." Ran let out a long suffering sigh. "And I'm guessing he left no clue as to where he was going?"

"None at all." Conan responded. Artemis watched in fascination as the boy's hands twitched and his jaw clenched; he was lying.

"How are we going to get this case done?!" Ran exclaimed angrily. "We need to pay rent! Wait," her gaze slid over to Artemis. "Are you still considered a genius Arty?"

"Yes Ran, I do not believe one ever stops qualifying as a genius after the title is given. I currently have the highest tested IQ in Europe." Artemis provided hesitantly.

"Well that's great then!" She beamed. "You can help Conan and me solve this case! We might even run into Shinichi!"

"Do I have a choice?" Artemis groaned at the same time Conan muttered "I doubt it." Though to which portion of Ran's statement this pertained to, Artemis had no clue.

"Let's get a cab!" Ran grinned, writing out a note to her father.

…

Shinichi soon found himself the unwilling occupant of the backseat of a cab headed towards the address Ran had supplied. Shifting uncomfortably from his place between the two full-sized teens, Shinichi did his best to try and mold himself to Ran's side, anything to get away from his over observant cousin.

Of all the people Shinichi expected to show up and threaten his already fragile secret, his estranged cousin was certainly not the face that first popped to mind. He hadn't even seen Artemis in over seven years. He vaguely remembered that their last couple meetings had been anything but pleasant, what with Artemis slowly withdrawing into himself until all that was left was a cruel, ruthless boy. The last news of Artemis though had been when he'd gone missing for three years and then reappeared as if nothing had happened. Shinichi frowned. There was definitely something different about Artemis, he just couldn't put his finger on it yet. Studying his cousin he noticed one highly abnormal thing. Putting on his best child-like façade, Shinichi tugged at the sleeve of Artemis's undoubtedly expensive tailored suit.

"Hey, why are your eyes two different colors?" He probed bluntly.

"Conan, that's rude!" Ran admonished him as Shinichi had expected her to. "Though, weren't both your eyes blue last I saw you?"

Artemis's left hand absentmindedly moved to rest beneath his left eye, which was hazel. "During the three year stretch when I was… missing something happened to me. I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind."

"I'm sorry." Ran apologized, eyes downcast and fists gripping wrinkles into her skirt. "I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories."

"It's fine." He answered shortly. "There's a lot about the past seven years I'd prefer to not have brought up."

This answer did little to quell Shinichi's curiosity or suspicion. Was the boy sitting next to him really Artemis Fowl? Or was he someone using the name to take advantage of Shinichi and his family? A sense of wrongness was itching under Shinichi's skin and it was making him paranoid.

"We're here." Ran exclaimed, forced optimism in her voice as she broke the tense atmosphere.

After stepping out of the cab and paying Shinichi noted that the taxi driver hightailed it out of there as fast as physically possible.

"Well there goes our return trip." Ran chuckled uncomfortably. "And oh look, my cell phone has no signal."

"This day continues to get better." Artemis scowled.

Shinichi silently agreed with him. He stilled as he heard something through the trees, a distant whir that permeated the air. Noticing that his companions were continuing up the road without him forced him to shake it off.

Shinichi watched as Ran approached the huge manor sitting on the hillside, gathered her courage, and knocked on the heavy wooden doors.

A young woman answered the door. "Hello, what is it that you need?" she asked.

"Um, we're looking for Izumi Kimura." Ran stuttered, only adding "we're from the Mouri Detective Agency." At the confused look from the house's owner.

"I am Izumi Kimura." The woman affirmed, frowning. "I assumed you'd be… older."

"Well, my dad wasn't available, but we brought someone just as capable!" Ran squeakily assured.

Artemis only offered a half-hearted wave. Shinichi's face met his palm, crushing his glasses into his skin.

"Well, come in." She sighed, gesturing them inside. The interior was just as grand, if not more so, than the exterior promised; wide arches and tall windows warmly lit by champagne colored light welcoming the trio into its insides.

"So you mentioned an assassination?" Ran pressed, trying to clear the hostile air.

"Yes. I believe someone will try to kill me at the party I'm hosting tonight." Izumi said solemnly.

"Worrying over that again?" A shorter person asked warmly as they entered the room, going to wrap their arms around the host from behind.

"Yes I am." Izumi snapped. "I take any threat to my wellbeing seriously." Turning to the two full grown teens and the one shrunken one she added, "This is my partner Nao Harada."

"Ran Mouri." Ran stated politely. "Oh, and these are Artemis Fowl and Conan Edogawa."

"Oh great, a foreigner." A man scowled from his position leaning against an archway.

"Eiji!" Izumi scolded in horror. "My brother." She clarified for the three newcomers. "Pardon his tongue."

"No, it's fine." Artemis dismissed. "I don't particularly care."

"Wow! I can barely hear your accent! What is it, Scottish?" Another girl exclaimed, entering the scene.

"Irish." Artemis ground out in annoyance.

"And this would be my sister, Kamiko." Izumi sighed. "We four are the only ones currently in the house, but more will arrive as the evening descends."

"What makes you think someone's going to kill you Ms.?" Shinichi asked as innocently as he could.

"Well, I've received five notes over the course of this month, all of them printed and containing thinly veiled threats." Izumi explained, pulling a stack of papers from the bag at her hip.

Taking them, Artemis loosened the oddly tied bow and started skimming the letters. After he finished Shinichi pestered him by pulling on, and wrinkling, his sleeve until he handed the papers over for Shinichi to scan.

Each note was about two sentences long and had a unique method of ending the recipient's life presented.

"How have you been receiving them?" Shinichi asked absently, still scrutinizing the letters clasped in his hand. He was so tuned out to anything but the client he didn't notice the odd look Artemis shot him.

"They've been shoved under the front door." Nao answered in place of their partner.

"Why are you holding a party that's going to put you in such a position?" Ran inquired worriedly.

"To draw the perpetrator out." Izumi scowled. "We tried watching at the peephole and a note was delivered anyways."

"I told her that it's a bad idea." Kamiko laughed. "She just won't listen though!"

"It's even a masked party." Eiji scowled. "How idiotic."

"Well you don't have to participate!" Izumi fumed. "This is my life and I choose what to do with it!"

"We're just worried Love." Nao pouted. "We don't want anything to happen to you."

At about this point Shinichi deemed he'd learned all he could from the conversation and had wandered off to examine the house once he'd handed the letters off to Ran. First he moved to examine the door. There was no mail slot in it, which explained why the letters were shoved under the door. Kneeling down, Shinichi took a closer look at the gap between the door and the floor. After it had passed his seemingly useless examination he moved on. Next was testing the range of sight one could get from the peephole. He dragged over a stool set against the wall so one could easily remove their shoes and pushed it flush against the door. Shinichi let out a frustrated a growl as the only way he could see through the peephole was if he stood on his tip-toes on top of the stool. He hated this puny body.

Seeing nothing amiss out the peephole, Shinichi was only alerted to something being wrong at the swish of paper originating from beneath him. He immediately leaped off his perch, kicked the stool out of the way, slammed the door open and rocketed a soccer ball off through the doorframe. The only sounds that followed were a muffled grunt of pain and the satisfying thud of someone falling to the ground. The silence from inside the house was deafening.

"Um, Conan?" Ran questioned slowly. "What was that?"

"Another note was shoved under the door, and I acted on instinct." Shinichi sheepishly tried to defend himself.

"Um, excuse me?" A foreigner interceded in basic Japanese, approaching the door holding the deflated soccer ball. "Was that an accident or…?"

"Who are you, and why have you been sending threatening letters to this residence?" Shinichi accused, getting right to the point.

"Uh, my name is Felix Drevin." The teen, who looked to be about Artemis and Ran's current age answered, "And I do not know what threatening letter you are talking about."

"The one you just shoved under the door." Shinichi scowled.

"I just came up the driveway. My… scooter is out of gas and I was wondering if someone here had some." Was Drevin's excuse. Shinichi eyed the powder blue vehicle suspiciously.

"You'd have to ask the people who live here that." Shinichi said slowly.

"Ask me what?" Izumi asked, leaning over Shinichi. "Oh hello. Are you the person who's been shoving death threats under my door?"

Shinichi answered "Yes." At the same time Drevin answered "No.".

"That's not confusing at all." Kamiko snarked from inside the house.

"Well, whichever it is, I think he should at least stay through the party, just so we can keep an eye on him." Artemis suggested, casting a suspicious glance over the boy.

"Great. More party guests." Eiji scowled sarcastically.

…

Alex's day had started off great, but had steadily gone downhill. He was pretty sure the tipping point had been seeing the odd boy about his own age in the street that had exuded an air of "Alex, you should really tail me because I'm up to know good." This thought had only been solidified by the glare sent Alex's way, presumably for staring. The guy had looked a mix of Japanese and European, also like a vampire; though Alex doubted that part was genetic. As per usual Alex had no restraint when it came to sticking his nose into the business of people with questionable moralities, which is probably what drew MI6 to him like gnats to honey. This is how he ended up shooting off a text to Sabina, who had been nice enough to take him to Japan in the first place, and him pursuing the shady character.

This all led up to Alex hotwiring a scooter in a spur of the moment to follow his mark that had entered a taxi, along with a pretty girl and a small child; in Alex's defense he'd only taken a quick glance at the scooter before hijacking it and had originally taken it to be a motorcycle.

This added up to him running out of gas conveniently right where he needed to be, even if it was half an hour after the person he was tailing. All of these experiences culminated in him watching a shadowing figure dart around the side of the house after expertly sliding something under the door, and to him being knocked flat on his ass by what he identified after regaining his breath, to be a soccer ball to the solar plexus. Overall not a fun experience.

What came next wasn't much of a party either, though he soon discovered what came after what came next was, in fact, a party. First though he was accused quite harshly of threatening the woman who lived in the house he was currently standing in front of. His rebuttal had apparently not been accepted, which is why he was being invited to the aforementioned party so he could be put under watch. Definitely not the blast he should be having back with Sabina, but, as usual, he only had himself and MI6 to blame. For Alex, MI6 had a hand in whatever was currently troubling the teen spy in his life, and therefore always shared some of the blame; for some reason his math teachers tended to severely dislike it when he started cursing Alan Blunt, Mrs. Jones, and "the fucking secret service" for his low grades. He had absolutely no clue why though. Nope. None at all.

After giving a fake name, no way was his real name getting out again, god knows how many times that's gotten him in trouble, he was introduced to everyone. Unfortunately for Alex, alias creation had been an on-the-spot decision, and because of this he ended up naming himself after his first undercover alias and the boy he had briefly impersonated while captured by terrorists. Fun times in the Rider vicinity.

"So, what does the newest letter say?" the girl who'd accompanied his mark-Ran he remembered-asked the small child-Conan-who had been very quick to accuse Alex, a poor, hapless, civilian, who had just so happened to be stalking the child's evil looking friend-asked, shooting a glare at the spy. How did Alex continue to get himself involved in such situations?

"I AM HONORED TO HAVE BEEN INVITED TO YOUR PARTY. AS A THANK YOU GIFT I WILL ADORN YOUR PRETTY NECK WITH A NECKLACE OF YOUR OWN BLOOD." Conan read. "It's in all caps." He explained, noticing the odd looks he received for the tone he read it in.

"See, it can't be me, I've never even heard of this place, let alone been invited here for a party here. Not including you lot putting me under surveillance." Alex griped.

"You can shut up." Eiji, the host's brother growled gravelly.

"I'm hurt." Alex deadpanned. "Can I go now?"

"NO!" everyone in the hall, sans Alex of course, exclaimed simultaneously.

"Wow. Rude. I will sue, don't think I won't!" Alex piped. "I know some very good lawyers!"

"Will you please be quiet!" Alex's prey, aka 'Artemis', said loudly in English, Irish accent becoming more pronounced in his frustration.

Alex glared and stuck his tongue childishly. The actual child shot him a condescending look; Alex was affronted.

The night went fast when one was confined with a host of insane people, Alex found. At about five thirty the grumpy Eiji lent him a set of nicer clothes and an ornate mask. Seeing that the rest of this batshit loco host was dressed a similar part, and looking just as uncomfortable in Ran's case, Alex felt less out of place. That is, until the other guests started to arrive.

The only notable characters in Alex's opinion were; Junko Kondo, a short, irritating women who seemed to enjoy sticking her nose in and meddling with other people's business as if it was her role in life, Miyuki Sakamoto, who Izumi, the host seemed particularly hostile towards, and Aki Murakami who seemed to share a rivalry with the host that was a step past friendly. Everyone else only elicited lukewarm reactions from the trained spy. Conan also seemed to be evaluating the guests, using his slight frame to dodge and weave through the crowd of masked revelers.

The person he followed here though seemed extremely uncomfortable, if his tense muscles were anything to go by. Artemis stood secluded in a corner nursing what was either a flute of champagne or one of ginger ale. Every once in a while he'd raise his eyes, scan the crowd, and then go back to his warming drink.

"Hey." Alex nodded, scooching up to the antisocial boy, addressing him in their native English. "What's shakin'?"

"You did not just say that aloud, to a real person." Artemis intoned dryly.

"Well, I'm beginning to have my suspicions that you're actually a robot, so that is debatable." Alex grinned jokingly.

Artemis looked insulted, and distressed, and like he was going to start panicking. Alex watched the other's pianist fingers tap out a tempo on his leg, one-two-three-four-five, one-two-three-four-five, over and over, it was mesmerizing really. The moment was broken, as they usually are, by the one who had put him in a trance in the first place. Artemis had seemed to have calmed down and was now doing his best to implode Alex's mind with his own.

"Whoa, sorry. I honestly didn't mean anything by that." Alex apologized sheepishly. "I guess I can sort be sort of an asshole."

"You certainly are an odd one Felix Drevin." Artemis commented.

"Great." Alex rolled his eyes. "Just what I've always wanted to be in life."

Artemis cracked the tiniest of smiles at that, which made Alex just the teensiest bit proud. This was all fine and dandy until the lights went out and an unearthly wail filled the air. Alex's first reaction was to grab Artemis, make sure he was safe and still there. Alex strained his eyes, trying fruitlessly to get them to make out anything in the half-light, preferably the one who had caused this chaos.

"Felix, you're hurting me." Artemis whispered, garnering no response. "Felix!"

"Oh, sorry." Alex apologized, moving his grip to loosely around the other boy's wrist.

Then the lights came on. Alex's grip tightened once more at the display before the party goers.

Izumi Kimura was strung by her arms from the drapes, throat cut in a ghastly, mocking smile. Placed in her mouth was a white rose, areas dyed red by the woman's own blood. A note was attached to the stem.

"Who's next?" Artemis read aloud.


	2. Chapter two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter, third is in the works.

"Who's next?" Artemis read aloud.

It was like Artemis's words cast a spell over the room, no one daring to break it, as if doing so would mark them for death. When the oppressive silence finally was broken it was by a shrill scream.

The cause of the outburst was Nao, who was pushing past guests, mask in hand. "No! Izumi! Izumi! Answer me!" they yelled, obviously distraught.

"She's dead." 'Felix' confirmed, having moved forward to press his fingers to the woman's neck. "I'm sorry."

Artemis frowned, contemplating the circumstances. The lights had only been out for about a minute, and yet, somehow, the culprit had managed to do this in such a short period.

"I tried contacting the police, but someone cut all the cords!" Ran exclaimed bursting back into the room, surprising Artemis who hadn't even seen her leave.

"Also, all the tires on our cars have been slashed." Aki frowned, sliding into the room behind the girl. "Eiji, help me get Izumi down from there."

"So we're trapped here? With a dead body and a murderer?" Eiji raised an eyebrow after he'd finished helping Aki. "Well, it was nice knowing you all as little as possible."

"Eiji!"Kamiko yelled, tears welling in her eyes. "Izumi is dead! Our sister is dead. Oh God, she's dead." The poor women sank to the ground the like a puppet with its strings cut and dissolved into wracking sobs.

"We all need to calm down!" 'Felix' exclaimed. "Now, who was closest to Izumi before the lights went out? By my calculations, the people we need to check are, Eiji, Kamiko, Nao, Junko, Miyuki, and Aki."

"Why us?" Junko asked.

"Just, trust me. Now let's start with Eiji." 'Felix' dictated. Artemis was impressed, the other boy was the same age as him, yet already had such leadership potential. The young genius glanced over at the youngest of the group and noticed he was studying the odd foreigner as well.

"I was at the buffet, hitting on Junko." Eiji scoffed.

"It's true!" Junko confirmed.

"Alright, Kamiko?" 'Felix' asked gently, squatting next to the woman.

"I-I was handing out masks to anyone who needed one at the entry way." She sniffled.

"I'll go next." Nao volunteered. "I was discussing a lemon pie recipe with Miss Ran who was holding the little boy's hand."

"Ok." 'Felix' smiled comfortingly. "Miyuki, you next."

"I was grabbing a cocktail." Miyuki supplied.

"And I, since I'm undoubtedly next, was having a smoke on the coat room terrace, I rushed back here when I heard the screaming, checking on our cars before returning here of course." Aki finished.

"Alright, can anyone confirm this?" 'Felix' pressed ahead.

"How could anyone?!" Junko scowled furiously, "We were all wearing masks!"

"She's right." Miyuki frowned. "Besides, how do we know it wasn't one of you all?"

"I'd have to agree, some random foreigners, an unknown girl, and a little boy who we've never seen before, despite having been close to Izumi are the most suspicious!" Aki inserted.

"We were hired by Miss Izumi!" Ran piped up angrily. "Conan, Artemis and I are representatives of the Mouri Detective Agency! None of us would hurt anyone!"

"And Felix was with me the whole time." Artemis put in. "Look, here are the marks from him digging his nails into my arm."

Artemis rolled up his sleeve to show five crescent shape abrasions in his pale skin, a couple sluggishly dripped blood a short way down his arm.

"Yikes" 'Felix' winced. "Sorry."

"Let's just get back to the case." Artemis brushed it off.

"How about we see everyone's masks? Wouldn't we be able to show them to people to set up alibis?" Conan asked innocently, rejoining the conversation.

Hesitantly all the suspects displayed their masks. Eiji's was a geometric, simple, stylized tiger masked that covered his whole face; Miyuki's was an entanglement of carefully painted thorny vines and fluorescent flowers that hid the top half and right side of her face; Junko's was a toucan painted an obnoxious red that covered her eyes and stretched outwards into a beak in front of her nose; Aki's was a simple white that covered the left side of his face only and left his mouth uncovered; Kamiko's was a rat with small eye holes and rodent teeth that hung a little ways over her mouth; and, finally, Nao's was a water color of Paris that shadowed her eyes. At the suspects' pointed glares Ran handed over her own mask-a softly colored cat mask that Izumi had loaned her-as well as the other three's-for Conan a simple plastic party mask, one of the ones that Kamiko had been handing out and had been obtained from the nearest store that sold them for a dime a dozen, Artemis's was an angular silver fox Nao had let him borrow, warning him that if it was broken he'd have hell to pay, and lastly 'Felix's which was carved to look like a snake winding its way around the wearers face, which Eiji had begrudgingly handed over.

"Now all we have to do is show these to the other guests." 'Felix' nodded approvingly. He gathered the masks and set off with Ran to solidify alibis.

Artemis watched in interest as Conan's eyes narrowed and the dork in the glasses leveled a fully fledged glare at the circle of suspects, who he was targeting Artemis couldn't tell. Conan turned sharply and marched over to the body, staring up at it intently.

"Hey, Artemis." Conan demanded, pulling on the taller boy's sleeve. "Wouldn't it be impossible for a girl to pull someone up like that?"

"Don't be rude Conan. I'm sure it wouldn't be." Artemis huffed dismissively.

"But if they were struggling wouldn't it be impossible?" Conan pressed, frowning.

"Hmmm, I suppose, especially if Miss Izumi was still alive and they had to tie her up with such thick cloth and such flimsy knots." Artemis pondered. "Hey, weren't the windows open earlier?"

Conan froze, eyes going wide and vacant, and then a smirk settled on his small face. "I see." Was all he said before running off.

At the time of the crime Shinichi had been too slow. He was anticipating something like this, but he'd still been surprised. He'd then tried to make his way towards the scream, but had been stopped by Ran's tight grip on his hand. So now, he was left with a body and an odd situation. Izumi Kimura had been hung up by the curtains before her death, if the downwards tilt of the cut on her neck was to go by. Shinichi also theorized that the rose had been forced into her mouth to shut her up. Now he just needed to figure out how she'd been suspended, and by whom.

It was Artemis who'd given him the clue to the trick used to string Izumi up, and after confirming his suspicions by 'accidentally' falling into a button left on the right side of the windows then inspecting the victim's arms and mouth, he was nearly ready. Next he conferred with 'Drevin' over the suspects' alibis.

"Well, three people saw Eiji and Junko flirting over by the table as they went to get their drinks, one even said they'd have probably been making out if his mask hadn't covered all his face and hers didn't extend out in front of her face; a waitress and four guests saw Miyuki grab her cocktail, they said they noticed because she was having a hard time drinking with half her face covered; the people in line for the bathroom saw Aki as he moved both ways; and there are fresh cigarette butts out on the coat room terrace; many people are wearing masks Kamiko gave to them, apparently she left briefly, but this was well before the murder, and a lot of people saw her after; and you and Ran were the ones to confirm Nao's alibi." 'Drevin' had explained.

He came away from that conversation frowning at the knowledge that everyone seemingly had airtight alibis.

Lost in his thoughts Shinichi didn't notice the mask on the floor until it was too late and he'd tripped on it. Picking it up, he frowned. It was even more carefully painted than the ones the others wore. It was covered in intricately painted gears that almost seemed real, interlocking to cover the whole face. One thing was off though; there were red splashes all over it, ruining the perfect design. Carefully he wandered his way over to Nao, who he knew for certain was not the murderer and tugged on her arm.

"Miss, I found this on the ground!" he held up the mask to her.

"Oh! That's-" Nao started.

"Whose is it?" Shinichi asked.

"It belonged to Ryoko Maki." Nao said sadly. "She was dating Kamiko. Last year she committed suicide. This is an original too. Izumi painted them for us. She said that each one she gave away reflected a facet of its owner. I have many different ones. For the party Eiji, Kamiko, and I all took our favorites to an artist to have them replicated. We wanted to surprise Izumi. Miyuki's is also one of hers. The bitch wore the real thing here though. I don't know how this could have gotten out of Kamiko's private quarters though."

"How do you tell it's an original?" Conan asked shifting uncomfortably as Nao came close to crying.

"Izumi's mark is in the corner. A red rose for the Kimura family." Nao explained cradling the mask close as tears slowly slid down her face.

"Thank you." Shinichi intoned sincerely. "Don't worry, the Mouri Agency will find her killer."

He then turned and started his search. Soon he'd found what he'd needed off in a corner of the room.

"Now," He murmured to himself. "All I need to do is put… Mouri… to sleep. Shit."

Cursing under his breath quietly he scanned the room for a substitute. He could walk either Artemis or 'Drevin' through the case, or 'call in Shinichi', but Artemis would notice right away. It looked like he'd have to use Artemis as his voice. It was far from perfect, but it was the best he could do. He approached Artemis, watch at the ready and, at the perfect moment, aimed and fired.

Artemis slumped to the ground immediately.

"Sorry." Shinichi murmured as he fiddled with the voice changer affixed at his throat. "Ahem!" he coughed loudly to get everyone's attention, unfamiliar Irish accent tingeing his tone. "I have solved the case."

"Arty!" Ran exclaimed excitedly. "I knew you could do it!"

"Isn't he just asleep?" Eiji muttered to Junko who was standing beside him.

"Of course not!" Ran pouted defensively. "He's just copying my father is all."

'Like Artemis has even been here long enough to have heard of that.' Shinichi thought. Aloud he said "Well, are you all going to listen to me?"

"Of course not! You're just a kid!" Kamiko scowled.

"A kid who has the 'highest tested IQ in Europe'." Ran commented forcefully.

"Thank you Ran, for the support." Shinichi stated. "Now, shall we get started? First things first, the blackout, the easy explanation would be that the lights were simply turned off, but the shutters on the window were open, letting in a good amount of moonlight. The shutters, which, for those of you who don't know, are made out of thick, heavy, industrial steel, can't be easily moved in a hurry, unless they were automated. Dre- Felix, if you will, there should be a button next to the window." 'Felix' went over and pushed the button, causing the shutters to quickly open with a low whirring noise.

"Oh! So they closed the shutters to make everything really dark!" Ran nodded.

"That's not all it was for. The murderer used them to accomplish a trick which hoisted Miss Izumi into the air, making it so even a woman could pull this murder off. It's a quite simple trick, all you need is some fishing line, some strong tape, a sturdy pulley, and of course a victim to lift into the air." Shinichi explained. "First you create two loops at the ends of two fairly long pieces of fishing line. Then you tape them to the bottom pulley, loop them up though the top one, and let the lines hang. When you wish to orchestrate the trick all one has to do is slip the victims arms into the loops and hit the button. As soon as the victim is in place, the arms are slipped into premade sleeves in the curtains which will support the body's weight. Two knots are tied to disguise this with the rest of the curtains, and the victim is killed. There are thin cuts in the victim's upper arms to prove this was the method used to yank her into the air"

"Who did it then?" 'Drevin' asked, scrutinizing Shinichi's stand-in.

"I thought you'd never ask. Miss Kamiko, it was you wasn't it?" Shinichi smirked.

"W-what?! Why would you think that?" Kamiko stuttered nervously.

"How dare you?!" Nao protested. "Kamiko would never-"

"Let me explain." Shinichi interrupted. "First, Miss Kamiko's is the only alibi that doesn't check out. She says she was handing out masks the whole time, but there was one point where witnesses saw her leave. It would have been quite simple for her to have switched out with someone else, no? After all. Everyone was wearing a mask, something quite easy to exchange."

"But then why didn't the person she switched with say anything?" Junko asked.

"She probably went up to them after them and sold them a sob story, something like 'Oh I only wanted to check on that one thing, but now everyone is going to think I murdered my sister! Please don't tell anyone.'" Shinichi intoned.

"What proof do you have? You can't go around wildly accusing people on circumstantial evidence." Eiji scoffed.

"First and foremost I have the fishing line she used and stowed in a corner, which will undoubtedly have her finger prints on it. But, there's also the thing Conan gave to Miss Nao earlier." Shinichi stated.

"Nao?" Kamiko asked.

Shakily Nao held out the mask.

"As the three of you who were close to Miss Izumi would know, that was the mask given to one Ryoko Maki, who died last year. Inside we'll undoubtedly find Miss Kamiko's DNA, for she used this mask to sneak through the crowd without being spotted, and to scare Miss Izumi. Also, there are blood spatters on it that will undoubtedly belong to Miss Izumi." Shinichi continued.

"Well, what does the rose mean then? And what about those notes?! Kamiko was with us when they arrived!" Eiji growled.

"For the rose, it was mainly a way to shut Miss Izumi up, you can tell it was forced in her mouth before she died by the bleeding in her mouth. You could also consider it symbolism though; the Kimura family's symbol is a red rose after all. Read into that what you will. As for the letters; she probably hired a neighborhood kid to help, one too short to be seen through the peep hole." Shinichi explained.

"No way! It can't have been Kamiko! You're wrong!" Nao exclaimed forcefully.

"Calm down Nao." Kamiko said quietly. "He's right after all. It was me, I killed Izumi."

"What?" Nao whispered in a small voice. "Why? Why would you kill her? She was your sister!"

"Easy, it was because of Ryoko." Kamiko smiled sadly. "Before she got together with you Nao, she was bitter and jealous, always sneering or scoffing when I brought Ryoko over. One day she told her that 'Kamiko is never serious about relationships; she's just playing with you until she finds someone better. It'll never last because Kamiko doesn't want it to.' Ryoko believed her. She killed herself that night. I couldn't stand it when she told me about it, she was guilty after all. So I put her out of her misery."

Soon after Aki got in touch with the police through some fiddling with his cellphone and the case was finished. Nao paid them in the end with a sad 'thank you' and the four strangers in the house were on their way.

"That was amazing Artemis!" Ran complimented in the taxi they'd managed to snag.

"What was? What's been happening?" Artemis frowned, looking confused.

"Duh, you solving the case!" Ran grinned.

"I did what?" Artemis deadpanned.

"Solved the case." Alex repeated. "Don't you remember?"

"No, I'm pretty sure I'd remember something like that." Artemis stated flatly. Conan shuffled uncomfortably from his place on Ran's lap.

Alex stared. The kid had been stationed near Artemis during the whole thing, and afterwards had been readjusting the bow tie around his neck. He couldn't have, could he?

"Oh look, our stop." The aforementioned kid squeaked uncomfortably.

As they exited the car Alex still couldn't shake his growing suspicions.

"Well Paul, it was nice meeting you, but it's time we headed home. Dad might be worried." Ran smiled pleasantly.

"Uh, yeah. Right. You too." Alex awkwardly replied, having to consciously remember to respond to 'Paul'.

"Alex!" a loud shout rang from behind him. Sabina.

"Shit." Alex sighed.

"Geez tourists are loud." Ran complained. "Wonder who that girl's looking for."

"I'm sure it's none of our business." Alex mumbled uncomfortably, trying to keep his head down.

Apparently luck was never on Alex's side. Sabina marched right up to him, put her hand on his shoulder and tugged him around.

"Alex Rider! How many times do I have to tell you that you can't just run off?!" Sabina scolded.

"I texted you." Alex retorted weakly.

"Yeah! And it was very vague! I had no clue where you'd gone, or when you'd be back, or even if you'd be back!" Sabina exclaimed.

"Wait, Alex?" Artemis, who unfortunately spoke English, questioned.

"Who are you?" Sabina scowled. "And just what have you gotten Alex into?"

"Well, he just happened to get himself involved in a murder case." Artemis responded icily. "Also, he told us his name was Paul Drevin."

"Whoops. I didn't blow your cover, did I? They're not gonna kill us now, are they?!" Sabina asked frantically, voice steadily rising in octaves.

"Yes, you blew my cover, no, they won't kill us." Alex sighed. "But I'd have preferred them not knowing my real name."

"What's going on?" Ran asked confusedly while Conan only stared at Alex suspiciously, seeming to have understood what was being said.

"'Paul Drevin' here seems to really be 'Alex Rider'." Artemis answered shortly.

"What? You lied to us?" Ran gasped.

"Well, I didn't know if I could trust you." Alex defended.

"We told you our real names!" Ran exclaimed, Conan looking uncomfortable once again.

"Yeah, well, I have my reasons." Alex replied. "Like I even have to tell you anything!"

"I thought we could be friends!" Ran shouted back.

Alex looked stunned.

"I-I'm sorry." Alex stuttered. "I guess I just forgot-forgot I-"

"Forgot you didn't need to be so careful?" Artemis probed. "You're what, sixteen? What do you need to hide from?"

"I can't say." Alex refused.

"I feel like we should go somewhere else to talk about this." Conan piped up.

"Good idea." Ran nodded. "Let's go to Shinichi's house, that's where Artemis is staying after all."

Soon everyone minus Sabina-who didn't speak Japanese, wasn't really involved, and had to go reassure her parents to Alex's safety-were all sat back at the Kudo house.

"Who are you really?" Artemis jumpstarted as soon as everyone was settled.

"As Sabina told you, my real name is Alex Rider." Alex conceded.

"Why were you at that house earlier?" Artemis continued.

"I thought you seemed suspicious, so I followed you." The teen spy revealed uncomfortably.

Artemis looked taken aback. He exchanged a confused glance with Conan before turning back to Alex.

"Me? Why would you- I'm not- what?" he seemed to be at a loss for words, which Alex felt didn't happen often.

"I don't really know." Alex shrugged. "It was just a feeling I got."

"Artemis has never done anything wrong!" Ran defended vocally. Conan made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a cough.

"Well sorry my instincts were wrong." Alex said, somewhere between a deadpan and genuine guilt.

"So you lied to us just because you thought that Artemis was some criminal mastermind?! He's fifteen!" Ran protested. Artemis seemed to be choking on thin air at that one.

"When you put it like that it sounds ridiculous." Alex admitted sheepishly.

"Yes, yes it does." Ran scolded, though her expression was softening.

"So, can we start again?" Alex suggested hopefully.

"I suppose so." Ran smiled, rolling her eyes.

"Great! Hi, I'm Alex Rider; I live in America but am originally from England. I'm here with my adopted family on vacation." Alex reintroduced, he was still stubborn on mentioning his time in MI6.

"And I'm Ran Mouri!" Ran laughed. "My father is a famous detective and Conan is staying with us for the time being."

Conan waved as she said his name.

"Artemis Fowl." The last in the room said slowly. "I'm from Ireland and am here to help my cousin at my aunt's request. Usually though I run a criminal empire from the Fowl manor."

Ran laughed at the joke, Conan snorted, and Alex chuckled weakly. Alex did not like to be mocked.

"Well, I better head out." Alex finally stated. "Sabina and her parents will start to worry if I'm gone much longer."

"Ok." Ran nodded. "Here, take my number. Maybe we could meet up again tomorrow and hang out like normal teenagers."

Her bright smile gave him hope; maybe he hadn't completely screwed things up. After getting Ran and Conan's numbers-the small boy insisting on adding his, something along the lines of wanting to introduce Alex to his friends or something-Alex managed to pester Artemis into relinquishing his as well.

With three new contacts in his phone, Alex cheerfully made his way to the door. He'd refused Ran's offer to walk him home, and so she and Conan were staying behind to help Artemis settle in; Conan muttering something about "contacting him and warning him". Alex assumed the kid was talking about Shinichi Kudo, the resident of the house, and didn't think much about it.

As he was leaving he only hoped that these people would turn out to be good people, and not the manipulative criminals he ran into way too often, though not anymore.

He only made it a few steps mast the gate before he was attacked.

A hand holding a cloth forced itself over his mouth and nose. He was only just able to recognize the scent of chloroform before his world went completely black and he lost consciousness.


End file.
